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MJ 'feared he had heart condition, cancer and brain tumor '

MJ 'feared he had heart condition, cancer and brain tumor '
News of the World
By James Desborough, US Editor, 22/08/2010

PARANOID Michael Jackson believed he suffered heart attacks and had cancer and brain tumours in the six months before he died.

The hypochondriac King of Pop even thought he had HYPOTHERMIA and FROSTBITE - in sunny Los Angeles.

But his delusions were caused by his mind and body being ravaged by his addiction to prescription drugs and painkillers, according to aides.

One said: "He was a mental wreck and always felt he had a disease. He was terrified of the sun as it irritated his vitiligo (skin condition) prompting him to claim he had cancer and brain tumours.

"At other times he said he was freezing cold and might have frostbite. On reflection his body and mind were just wrecked by drug use."

Jacko also complained of suffering heart attacks leading up to his death in June last year. That's why he hired cardiologist Conrad Murray, who appears in a US court tomorrow charged with involuntary manslaughter as the case nears trial.

Murray's defence will argue Jacko hid the full extent of his pill-popping from him. But today we can reveal family friend and prosecution witness Terry Harvey will challenge this.
Terry, who first told the world that Jacko's death at 50 was from an overdose of painkiller Propofol, said: "I discovered Murray knew about Michael's drug problems for a long time.

"Michael was a drug-addicted wreck and complained for months about being too ill to perform his shows."

Terry, 50, who uncovered the revelations while researching a book about Jacko's death, added: "I expect at Murray's trial all those secret things I have discovered will come to the fore."

Jacko's skin specialist Arnold Klein will also claim Murray was aware of the singer's drug intake. He gave Jacko regular jabs of the painkiller Demerol for face fillers and Murray even booked Jacko's appointments.

Another source added: "If you are hired as a round-the-clock medic your job is to know what your patient is taking."

This may be better moved to the Investigation section, but here is more from Terry Harvey to News of the World.

Autopsy result bombshell as cops close in on 'killer'
By James Desborough, 19/07/2009

THE death of Michael Jackson is to become a MURDER investigation, the News of the World can reveal.

An autopsy on the superstar has shown he died from an injected overdose of heavy-duty painkiller Diprivan.

Police have told his family they will press charges against one or more people within DAYS and there will be a criminal TRIAL.

It could involve whoever administered the injection and anyone who made it available to the star.

Last week La Toya Jackson told the News of the World she knew who had murdered her brother.

Yesterday's astonishing development was revealed by Terry Harvey, a long-time friend of the Jackson family, in an exclusive interview with us.

Terry said: "The autopsy shows that Michael died of a drug overdose with Diprivan and a range of pills in his stomach. He had needle marks on his neck and all over his body.

"The authorities have told the family the Drug Enforcement Administration are pushing for a criminal charge.

"It is likely to be second-degree murder, due to the actions which led to his death. They have been assured that someone, or maybe more than one person, will be brought to trial.

"The family are working with the DEA and Los Angeles Police Department to work out which doctor prescribed Michael these drugs and how far back this serious problem runs."

Terry also revealed that as soon as the murder inquiry is announced the Jacksons intend to SUE AEG, the promoters behind Jacko's planned London O2 comeback shows, for £30million for "wrongful death".

The family, headed by father Joe, say its bosses failed in their duty of care towards Jacko and could have saved his life.

Feeding

Respected music promoter Terry, currently working with girlband TLC, said: "The family is speaking about whether there is enough evidence to take a private lawsuit against the promoters or the doctors involved.

"Once the criminal charges are announced, the family will file for a wrongful death lawsuit.

"Joe Jackson has made no secret of his efforts to step in to get Michael to rehab while he prepared for his London shows. The question is how much did the concert organisers know about his drug problems and who was feeding him the drugs?

"I can see Joe filing a lawsuit against anyone who is found to have caused fatal harm to his beloved son.

"He and the rest of the family are serious about getting to the bottom of his son's death and insists it's foul play. It's no secret that AEG appointed a doctor to look after Michael's welfare."

The company have claimed they did everything they could to help Jacko prepare for the 50-date tour. AEG's representatives have always insisted Jacko was fit, healthy and in "great shape" during his rehearsals.

Terry is also the first member of Jackson's inner-circle to confirm the star's horrendous, long-term addiction to prescription drugs.

He said Jacko died a JUNKIE thanks to daily injections of Diprivan (or Propofol) and another painkiller Vistaril, plus swallowing a cocktail of pills including anxiety drug Xanax, anti-depressants Prozac and Zoloft and anti-indigestion drug Prilosec.

Terry added: "Michael had a long-term drug habit. He was no different to a drug addict living in a crack house. What he wanted was served up to him. He didn't go to the stores to get his fix, it was brought to him. He started in 1984 after he got burned filming that Pepsi advert. But in recent years it spiralled out of control and he was even self-injecting.

"By the end he knew how to administer these drugs himself as he had so much medical knowledge. Now he's dead everyone is washing their hands of it. I don't believe that Michael injected himself in the neck though.

"The jury is out on everyone in his inner circle. I believe some of them actually got him drugs. These people should be thrown into jail."

Last night leading pathologist Dr Cyril Wecht backed Terry's claim that the case will become criminal.

Dr Wecht, who worked on the Anna Nicole Smith drug case, said: "If Diprivan was given to Michael Jackson, prescribed by some physician, and it was administered by him or anybody else at his home then it goes beyond negligence. The drugs need to be administered by a trained anaesthetist. It is to be given only in a hospital setting because it is susceptible to bacterial contamination.

"For all of these reasons, if any doctor prescribed Propofol for Michael Jackson to take at home himself that is gross wanton negligence which, as I understand it, is manslaughter."

Terry, who is friends with Joe Jackson and Michael's brother Tito, got close to the star's aides in his final days after agreeing to promote a one-off Jackson 5 reunion in 2010. And he is adamant that Michael needed to go to rehab before returning to the stage in London this month and begged 50-year-old Jacko's associates to let him step in.

Terry, 49, said: "I told them Michael had a drug problem. I said we need to 'get him off the junk'.

"They said my concerns were meritless and changed the subject. I didn't hear a word afterwards."

Terry told how Jacko's dad tried to get Michael to go to rehab in March.

He said: "Joe wanted to get his son cleaned up as he was so keen to do the family show deal for 2010.

"He knew he wasn't ready for these summer shows in London. Joe called him on the phone and said to Michael, 'Let's get it together. Let us help you and clean the house'. Michael said 'OK' to appease his dad but he didn't even take his words in. By that stage he was an addict.

"He still thought he was the biggest star in the world. He did what he wanted. He felt he wasn't ready to go.

"Joe went to the house at least three times to intervene, but couldn't get through to his son."

Concerned Terry even offered to take care of Jacko. He said: "I begged Joe to get me into the house. I wanted to fight off all the enablers and keep them away.

"We had suspicions who was getting him prescription pills, but it was important to stop it first and deal with them later.

"MJ needed to be looked after one-on-one. Aside from the drugs Michael knew that these shows were too much for him. He needed the money, but it was all too much too soon. I knew in his heart he didn't want to and more importantly couldn't do these shows."

Terry told how Jacko called him after the O2 shows were announced.

He said: "Michael came on the phone and said, 'I only signed up for 10 shows. I didn't sign for 50. You are gonna have to rearrange the schedule to two shows a week.' Michael could only do two shows a week due to the strain on his voice let alone the physical stress of doing two hours on stage."

Two weeks ago AEG boss Randy Phillips told the News Of The World Jacko was lazy and had turned up for just two weeks of the four months of rehearsals.

But Terry said: "The TV has been showing clips of his rehearsals and from what I can see Michael wasn't even singing live.

"He was struggling with his dance moves. I was told he had his vocals sequenced on stage so if he didn't want to sing live they just switched on the tape."

Days before his death Jackson postponed his 02 debut from July 8 to July 13 blaming the "size and scope" of the production.

Terry added: "Michael knew he had to do these shows as he was in so much debt.

"The concert company put a lot up front and wanted to get a return on their money. The shows and the pressure got bigger than he could handle.

"Michael pushed himself to the edge as he didn't want to let the fans down."

Yes, Orthodiva. Also, as for the 'pills in his stomach'...I would assume that if he was getting an IV every night there would be no need to take the pill form of anything. Every drug would be run through his IV. I know that is just a technicality, but it further goes towards Murray knowing about Michael's 'drug habit' at that point in his life because chances are that Murray was the one administering EVERYTHING.

I realize this is News of the World, so I do take both articles with a grain of salt especially in terms of the way that they've quoted Terry. Still, what's contained in them scares me.

The first article (most recent) seems positive as Terry is saying that Murray was aware of medications Michael was taking. But then, it quotes Terry as opining that his body and mind were a wreck.

Of course, such an opinion, if given in court, would likely be inadmissible because it would be considered expert testimony and Terry cannot be qualified as a medical expert. Still, would he actually be able to point to concrete facts, based on which a properly-qualified expert could conclude that Michael's condition was such that he would be more susceptible to a cardiac arrest?

The second article (earlier) is even more damning to the prosecution's case as it claims that Terry has knowledge that Michael self-injected!

Who is this Terry-the-family-friend person? What's the history here? Does anyone know? Is he mostly friends with Joe?

I have heard this said, before, that MJ was paranoid; that he often thought he had serious health problems, or health issues. ( I think La Toya said as much). Undoubtedly he did have health problems, so there may have been a real cause for some of his concerns, at least. By some accounts, 2008 may have been a difficult year for him, health wise, but he seemed to be improving in 2009. This is what I remember: he had a sun-spot removed (worried about skin cancer); he complained about being hot on one side of his body and cold on the other (fears of hypothermia/frostbite); some mention of brain swelling (maybe this made him feel light-headed or gave him head-aches - fears of a tumour); perhaps he had heart palpitations/arythmia (which could lead him to worry about having a heart attack). It's possible he had iron deficiencies or low blood pressure, too...that's common with some vegetarians and people who also do not each much. Then factor in his arthritis and his skin disorders. To say he was paranoid suggests that some of these things were not real and they more than likely were very real, indeed.

I still find it very difficult to believe that he was a "junkie", in the commonly known sense of the word, consistently, permanently and in an ongoing manner, all the way from 1984, until 2009. Obviously, he did have problems, on and off, at different periods during this time, but not in the way that it is portrayed by this man.

"Medical knowledge, self-injecting, pill-popping".......that stuff is scary; those claims are not helpful for the prosecution, IMO, in terms of the trial. It is also directly in contradiction with the autopsy report; with other reports, such as the police and paramedics; and with what has been said by others, such as Arnold Klein.

Some of the things stated in the article from July last year turned out to be just flat out wrong. Much of what he says about TII does not ring true, either, IMO.

Joe. He claimed to have no knowledge of his son's drug problems, didn't he? Or at least...the extent? Now Terry says that Joe wanted to "get him off the junk", so that a 2010 reunion concert could happen. Is that the only reason he cared? A reunion concert?? So many confusing and different points of view....from everywhere.

I think I have been pretty consistent in saying that I believe Michael was an addict, but there is no judgment there. It doesn't diminish my sympathy for him or even admiration. Everyone is addicted to something. It manifests differently in different people. As someone who worked in the criminal justice system, I believe the only way to help people in active addictions is to stop looking at addiction as a moral issue. It's not. It's a pathology (did I use it right, GS?).

That said, I have a few questions about this article.

1. If Michael was in active addiction til the day he died, why did his autopsy only show the drugs Murray admitted to injecting? I am not an expert, but most opiate-based painkillers will stay in your system at least two and as much as six weeks. The autopsy findings are strong evidence, to me at least, that Michael was not "freelancing" any drug use, but only taking what Murray was giving him by the time he was killed.

2. If Michael was so far beyond reachable, paranoid, and delusional, how did he manage to pull himself together enough to plan and rehearse for TII? Even if the footage was manipulated, even if he only had a few good days, he was still THERE, doing his JOB, and interacting with people. I have worked with people in alcohol and drug-induced psychosis. They don;t act like Michael Jackson directing the Earth Song staging.

3. If Michael was really so set against doing these shows, why did he do them? There either had to be a part of him that really wanted to do them, or an outside influence threatening enough to make him do them anyway. Maybe it was a mixture of both, but it helps me to sleep at night to think it was more about the former.

Propofol (diprivan) is NOT a painkiller. It would be damn near impossible to self-inject the stuff.

I've heard medical experts say the very same thing and I don't believe for a second that Michael injected himself. I'm not in the medical profession as you are, and it sounds ludicrous to me, just from a common sense standpoint (hope the jury feels similarly).

But, the defense has put out there that they think Michael self-injected the propofol (TMZ) and that "Murray didn't give Michael anything that would have killed him" which appears to be their defense theory (or, they were trying to "float" it for public reaction.) To feel confident, they have to have at least one expert who will say on the witness stand self-injection was possible. Lawyers can always come up with someone as an "expert witness" who will support their theories and I think they have at least one.

We've heard legal experts opine that this case will be a battle of the experts. And, since the defense only has to raise a reasonable doubt, this theory may well be the centerpiece.